French protest violence: A ‘Christmas present’ for Le Pen’s far right?

After mass protests across France degenerated into riots in several cities, Marine Le Pen accused Emmanuel Macron of having lost all “credibility or authority.” The National Rally leader condemned both the government’s austerity and left-wing “insurrectionary activists,” and blamed the looting and destruction on the left and decades of immigration, without providing evidence that immigrants led the riots. School protests began on September 21 in a poor Paris borough over decaying infrastructure, teacher shortages and tight schedules, then spread nationwide alongside a public-sector strike against planned spending cuts. Leading recent polls ahead of the April 2027 presidential election, Le Pen presented her party as able to restore order.